


Comebacks

by amagiri



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 07:11:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5239211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amagiri/pseuds/amagiri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the end of something is the start of something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comebacks

"Don't get hurt dancing-or just don't get hurt, period." 

Changmin rolls his eyes. "Hyung." 

"Don't have any scandals." 

"Hyung." 

"Oh, and I know you're enjoying being buff, but please try not to strip too much and-" 

"Hyung!" Changmin cries, reaching out to try and cover Yunho's mouth with his hand. 

Yunho jerks away, but he wisely shuts his mouth. 

"Come on," Changmin grouses, his posture returning to a sullen slouch against his chair. "I've been doing this idol thing as long as you." 

"Yeah, I know." Yunho smiles. Lately he's been looking at Changmin with this wistful expression on his face, as though he's longing for the good ol' days when the younger man had followed him around like a nervous duckling. 

Changmin looks away. He hasn't been that wide-eyed child in a long time, even if that image still persists in the minds of fans. Brushing the nostalgia off his shoulder, he huffs, "Besides, it's only a few months until I go too. I'm sure I can handle myself for _that_ long at least." 

Yunho laughs. "I know, I know." The older man looks down at his hands, palms facing one another with a few inches of empty air between them. "I guess I just wish I could put everything in a jar and stop time inside of it while I'm gone, you know? 

"I mean, who knows what the fans and the industry will be like when we get back." He clasps his hands together, shattering the invisible glass container. He's wearing that somber expression now, the same as when he anguished for so long because he wasn't a superhuman leader who could keep them from falling apart and going through their first hiatus. 

They fall into silence. Changmin's eyes are on the floor, imagining broken glass there. He doesn't know what to say; he's the one who comforts others by patting them on the back while radiating awkwardness. 

"Who knows?" He tries lightening the mood instead. "Maybe you'll enjoy the army so much that you'll decide to change careers." 

Yunho chuckles. "I became an idol because I had a passion for dancing, but I'm going to find military drills even more exciting?" 

Changmin shrugs. "You and I always talk about what a 'normal' life would have been like." 

"That's true," Yunho replies, although he doesn't seem to be even considering the idea. Changmin has no doubt that Yunho won't come back either, even if it is just to a smaller, more dedicated crowd who have been waiting patiently during their enlistment. Yunho is a people pleaser, which is like the very definition of an idol when applied to hundreds of thousands of devoted fans. 

But there's also the rush, the feeling you when you're bowing to a large crowd at the end of a concert. Sure, you spend three hours with a mix of fear that you'll fall off the stage and a kind of perverse adrenaline from being watched, but when it's all through, you get to enjoy the feedback of your efforts right away in a way that ebullient blogs and tweets can't capture after the fact. 

Suddenly, Changmin doesn't know how either of them will survive the routine rigor of military service. 

"It's getting late." Yunho's voice cuts into Changmin's daydreams. "I should get going." 

Changmin nods, and the two of them rise from their seats at the same time. They move slowly towards the door, like there's an uncertain future on the other side that neither of them wants to explore. 

With the doorknob in his grasp, Yunho tells Changmin, "Don't get hurt, alright?" 

"Not this again." Changmin exaggerates his annoyed expression with a roll of the eyes. 

Yunho reaches out and grasps him by the shoulder. "I mean it. Take care of yourself." 

Changmin frowns. "You make it seem like we're not going to talk at all." He pull his phone from his pocket and holds it up. "We have these, remember?" 

"Yeah, but your dear hyung won't be watching over you all the time." Yunho throws an arm over Changmin's shoulders and reels him in close. The faint scent of Yunho's favorite cologne reaches Changmin, who finds he can't help but close his eyes and take it in. He's going to miss this man. 

They pull apart. Changmin's eyes slide open, and somehow feeling timid, he ventures a quiet, "Good night, Yunho-hyung." 

Yunho blinks, taken off-guard, but then his lips curl into a bemused smirk, and Changmin feels himself flush. Yunho is often quick to tease when the younger man says something sentimental without the standard sarcasm ("Ah, you used to be such a cute kid"), but tonight he simply replies, "Good night, Changmin." Hand falling away from the door, he leaves. 

Except that he stops just a few feet away. 

Yunho turns slightly, looking over his shoulder. "Changmin," he starts, then hesitates. He puts one foot out to keep walking but that action too is halted before completion. 

"What is it?" Changmin asks, head cocked to one side and hip pressed against the door. 

"Just something on my mind I guess," Yunho replies with nervous chuckle in his voice. He reaches his hand up to rub the back of his craned neck before spinning on his heels and marching right back to the door. 

They both straighten, and although Changmin knows that Yunho is about to say something serious, he's always wanted to laugh at how in sync they are. 

"I told myself I wouldn't enlist with regrets," Yunho starts by explaining. "I visited my parents, hung out with my friends, talked about our careers with you and the company…so that leaves one last thing." 

Yunho smiles. "Changmin, I was wondering if…you would ever want to try again?" 

Changmin feels his heart skip a beat. After a silence that seems to drag for days, he murmurs, "You and I?" 

A shy, wary smile. "Yeah." 

Changmin takes a step forward. "Really? You want to put up with me again? My nitpicking and my going too far with my sarcasm?" He recalls all the words they've flung in their worst moments. 

"Only if you can deal with my forgetfulness and total inability to leave our problems at work," Yunho replies lightly, clearly amused rather than bothered by the past. 

So many things running through Changmin's head right now. The two of them had come together in the lowest point of their lives, a time where their uncertain futures had made them cling together for fear of being alone, but in the end, when they had thankfully landed with their feet on the ground, they had agreed to cut away the most intimate parts of their relationship in an effort to leave the rest intact. 

But now…now is different. Sure, the future still isn't well-defined, but there is an understanding between them that they will always be able to build again. Now, there is no desperation to continuously try to make it work, but perhaps that was the problem in the first place. 

"You don't have to answer now," Yunho interjects, a bit of panic weaved into his voice that makes him talk a hair faster. "I mean, it's probably better to wait until we're both done with our service anyway. Maybe you'll hit it off with someone while you're there?" 

"That won't happen." Changmin shakes his head insistently. 

"You can't know-" 

"Of course I can." Changmin takes a step forward, challenging and defiant. "How long have we known each other? Worked together? Tolerated each other? Enjoyed each other's company? It's been over 12 fucking years, and you're telling me I'm going to find that kind of connection with someone else in less than quarter of that?" 

Changmin breathes deep, calming himself. When he opens his eyes next, he starts again, "Yunho, even if you and I don't work out, we won't lose anything." 

In a flash, Changmin finds himself pressed against the door in Yunho's apparent fervor to claim his lips. It feels so familiar, this kiss, so much so that everything else starts to come back to him too. He recalls legs intertwined between the sheets, quick pecks on the cheek with a dressing room full of people but no one looking, and even that one time where they were so obviously pissed at each other on stage but had their anger gradually drain away during the performance, leading up to them making out in a car at the end of the night. 

Yunho breaks the kiss. He's panting, he's grinning from ear to ear, and his heart is pounding so hard he can practically feel the blood coursing through him. 

"You know, I haven't said 'yes' to anything yet," Changmin states, attempting to deadpan but coming out as dazed instead. 

"Then answer me now," Yunho laughs breathlessly. 

Changmin flushes. His instinct is to push the other man away for his cheekiness, but Changmin pulls him close instead, taking in the warmth and the cologne. 

"I will always try again with you." 

And Yunho beams like the day they conquered Nissan Stadium.

**Author's Note:**

> For Mr. Fridge and for strawhat. Hard to believe it's been over a year since I've posted anything, but since I missed Yunho's enlistment date, I at least wanted to finish something by Changmin's. Thanks for being a supportive community all these years. :3


End file.
